50 Players to watch at the World Cup - No 28 Gonzalo Higuain

05 May 2010 09:50

Football.co.uk continues it's countdown of players to watch at this summer's World Cup with Gonzalo Higuain at number 28.

Name: Gonzalo Higuain

Age: 22

Club: Real Madrid

International Caps: 4

International Goals: 2

Different to so many of the other players in this countdown, Higuain has only four caps to his name so far, but is still expected to play a major part in South Africa this summer.

This is partially down to his indecision over his international commitments early in his career, as he struggled to decide whether he wanted to play for Argentina or France, whilst the stubbornness of Diego Maradona has also been to blame, as he refused to pick Higuain for his rein until the latter stages of qualifying.

Since Maradona gave in to media pressure, Higuain has scored twice. One a crucial goal in a 2-1 win over Peru that could have seen their qualification go disastrously wrong, whilst also proving his credentials against the best, scoring the only goal against Germany in a friendly match.

The striker has enjoyed his finest season at Real Madrid, dumb-founding the many people who felt his career at the Santiago Bernabeu was over after the lavish spending of Florentino Perez over the summer.

He currently sits second in the Primera Division's top goal-scorers list, with only Lionel Messi ahead of him, despite a smear campaign orchestrated by the Madrid press and Perez himself, due to him being the star player remaining from the Ramon Calderon era.

He is quick, clever and has a deadly eye for goal that will cause problems to the defence of any team at the World Cup this summer. Inexperienced he may be in the international stage, but this could well work to his advantage if people don't pay attention.